Plant powder vs extract vs standardized plant extract

Plant powder

Plant powder is made of the whole plant or some of its parts dried and ground. It contains beneficial elements but also a considerable portion of inactive compounds.

Plant extract

Plant extracts are concentrates of bioactives phytochemicals obtained through modern extraction technologies. the purpose of the extraction is to obtain the highest quantity of desired active ingredients from plants. With the help of solvents, soluble plant metabolites are separated from the insoluble cellular marc. Products can be in liquid, semisolid state or dry powder form after removing the solvent.

Drawback : Plant extracts generally show substantial variation in composition, quality and consequently therapeutic effects.

Standardized plant extract

Standardization involves chemical identification for active constituents or marker compounds. Standardized extracts contain consistent levels of specified compounds and they are subjected to rigorous quality controls during all phases of the growing, harvesting, and manufacturing processes.

Advantage : Only a standardized and a validated process of extraction can assure the reproducibility of chemical components contained in an extract.